- REUTERS
Cathy Cleaver Ruse of the Family Research Center speaks during Justice Sunday II at Two Rivers Baptist Church in Nashville, Tennessee, August 14. Christian conservative leaders used the 'Justice Sunday' rally to criticize activist judges but chose not to endorse United States President George W. Bush's nominee for the Supreme Court, John Roberts.
Earl Moxam, Senior Gleaner Writer
THE RECENT comment by American Televangelist, Pat Robertson, calling for the United States Government to assassinate Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, has had repercussions in many places, not least of all, here in Jamaica.
Reverend Cannon Ernle Gordon, Rector of St. Mary's Anglican Church, a long-standing critic of the U.S. evangelical movement and its influence in the Caribbean, did not mince his words when contacted by The Sunday Gleaner. "The retired Bishop of Trinidad & Tobago, the Right Reverend Abdulla, reminded us that the evangelical theology that is now penetrating the Caribbean is not right for us, particularly the histology," was his opening salvo.
Rev. Gordon, long associated with the political left here in Jamaica, followed that up with a pointed reference to the Santa Fe Document of May 1980, "which said that the U.S. State Department must attack liberation theologians because they were undermining progressive capitalism. It reminds me of the same position of the Evangelicals".
He was quick to point out, however, that the word 'Evangelism' has nothing to do with terrorism or undermining people but rather with spreading 'the good news' of Christ.
Which, according to local evangelists, is what they are committed to doing, rather than being tools of American capitalism or the Republican right wing agenda.
Robertson, in the Monday, August 22 edition of his television programme, The 700 Club , said of the Venezuelan Leader: "I don't know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think we really ought to go ahead and do it."
That comment drew worldwide condemnation, and after initially trying to 'clarify' it, Robertson apologised two days later.
BUSH REPUBLICANISM
While asserting that local evangelicals and their American counterparts "are trying to get to the same place", spiritually, Rev. Dr. Henley Morgan, chairman of Praise City International Church based in Trench Town, Kingston was scathing in his criticism of Pat Robertson and some other U.S. Conservative Christians. These groups, he said, were promoting 'Bush Republicanism', to the point "where it is almost overtaking the Christian ethic. The two things are becoming almost indistinguishable."
That Bush Republicanism, he warned, was approaching the status of Soviet communism, "which was elevated to the level of a religion".
As for the influence of American evangelicals on their local counterparts, Rev. Morgan, whose church is associated with Time Square's David Wilkinson, rejected the charge of undue influence on most Jamaican churches. "Most evangelicals when they come here, come to assist, not to direct operations in the local churches, which are fiercely independent", he contended.
There were, according to Dr. Morgan, probably a few exceptions to that rule, with the Assemblies of God (headquartered in Springfield Missouri), "placing some of their people here who exercise near veto power over the local churches."
"Not so!" according to Rev. Pitkin, General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God in Jamaica. "Although we are in some way connected to an American association, we are an indigenous, autonomous church. We make our own decisions. We merely work in a fraternal relationship. There is no outside force influencing us. I can categorically state that," he insisted.
Concerning the 'assassination' statement by Pat Robertson, Rev. Pitkin asserted that it should be unequivocally condemned. "He does not speak for the evangelical church in Jamaica. We do not subscribe to or support any such statement. It is un-Christian and uncharacteristic of Christ. Jesus says, 'I come not to condemn the world but that the world should be saved,' and no nation has the right to infringe on another nation's internal affairs," he said.
Such assertions of condemnation by local evangelical leaders of non-traditional churches may go some way towards satisfying the concerns of Rev. Ernle Gordon, worried as he is about the modern interpretation of evangelism by Conservative Christians in the United States. Too many evangelicals, he complained, "have linked up with the fall/redemption theology, which is very heavy on guilt, and judgement and damnation, and not the creation theology, which is about justice, righteousness, music, science, innovativeness and creativity."
He remains concerned about the more than 600 new churches that have been incorporated in Jamaica since 1972, and which, he claims, are pro-United States and are supported financially by churches in the United States. The 'success theology' of many of these pro-U.S. churches, he argues, is undermining the self-reliance philosophy that is needed in Jamaica at this time. This 'bling-bling' gospel, he contends, is not good for Jamaica.
SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION
According to Rev. Morgan, however, his church caters to the whole man, and has been on a major mission of social transformation in the inner-city communities in which it operates. Praise City Inter-national, he said, had reached out to the disadvantaged in the heart of Arnett Gardens and other neighbouring communities, with several initiatives, including an employment programme, producing banana chips and juices and providing computer training, as well as a business incubator programme. Recently, he said, the church, in collaboration with Lasco, provided basic entrepreneurial training for some Trench Town residents, teaching them the rudiments of running a small business.
Over at the feared 'No Man's Land' near Boys' Town, the church held a camp for difficult boys who were being threatened with expulsion from 20 schools, providing them with an opportunity for resocialisation in order to return to classes in September.
Similarly, Rev. Pitkin, pastor of Faith Temple church in Montego Bay, pointed to several outreach initiatives in which his church was involved, with the third batch of graduates from a skills training programme set to graduate this afternoon.
Additionally, he said, the church's medical clinic would be reopening early in September, providing service to those who are unable to access medical treatment elsewhere.
Nationally, according to Rev. Pitkin, Assemblies of God churches operate many basic schools and are involved in other areas of education.
